Electromagnetic impulse counter



April 1961 H. STEINBACH EI'AL 2,980,891

ELECTROMAGNETIC IMPULSE COUNTER Filed Sept. 14, 1955 INVENTORS H.STEINBACH R. SCHEIDIG ATTORNEY United States PatentO ELECTROMAGNETICIMPULSE COUNTER Heinz Steinbach, Kornwestheim, Wurttemberg, and RudolfScheidig, Stuttgart-Feuerbach, Germany, assignors to InternationalStandard Electric Corporation, New York, N.Y., a corporation of DelawareFiled Sept. 14, 1955, Ser. No. 534,322 Claims priority, applicationGermany Sept. 24, 1954 1 Claim. (Cl. 340168) The invention relates to anelectromagnetic impulse counting device used, for instance, as registersor control switches for receiving dial pulses in exchange or switchingsystems. Impulse counters of this kind are provided with ten armatureswhich are arranged next to one another and between a common attractingpole and a common retracting pole of an electromagnet and, in order ofsequence, operate contact spring sets when D.C. pulses are applied to anattracting winding.

In one such known arrangement of this kind as described in Patent No.2,487,015 issued November 1, 1949, and 2,538,818, issued January 23,1951, the individual armatures are actuated successively, the unactuatedarmatures being held during impulses by the retracting pole and, in thepulse intervals, being mechanically brought into a center position lyingnearer to the attracting pole by the previously attracted armature. Fromthis center position the corresponding armature, by the next impulse,will be attracted by the attracting pole. The contact spring sets whichare respectively allocated to each armature, consist in one knownarrangement of four stacked contact springs which are assembled to formone front contact and one back contact. In order to permit theemployment of the counting device in electrical circuits, one contactspring of the front contact may be electrically connected to the onecontact spring of the back contact of the contact stack of the nextsucceeding armature. Hence the circuit proceeds over the front contactof the actuated spring set and over the back contact of the nextsucceeding spring set so that when the armature belonging to the latteris actuated the existing circuit will be disconnected. This is necessarybecause, owing to the good remanence of the magnet core, the attractedarmature will remain stuck to the attracting pole until restored tonormal position by the energization of a retracting winding.

This relatively great expenditure of contact springs is avoided inanother known arrangement in which upon the actuation of an armature,the front contact, which was previously actuated is mechanically openedby the actuation of the next armature. The back contact, required in thefirst mentioned arrangement, will thereby be saved and the number ofcontact springs of each spring set will be reduced by half.

The present invention relates to an impulse counting device of the kindlast referred to and has for its object the avoidance of certaindisadvantages hitherto experienced therewith.

According to a feature of the present invention each spring setcomprises a pair of overlying springs, the contact carrying portions ofwhich are respectively off-set in different directions and located sothat the contacts of one spring cooperate with contacts of a precedingspring set and contacts of the other spring cooperate with contacts ofthe next succeeding spring set.

The invention will now be particularly described with 2,980,891 PatentedApr. 18, 1961 reference to an example shown in Figs. 1 to 3 of theaccompanying drawing wherein- Fig. 1 shows a schematic representation ofthe complete. impulse counting device;

Fig. 2 shows the form or construction of the contact springs, and

Fig. 3a shows the position of the contact springs of the impulsecounting device before any impulses have been applied to its attractingwinding; and

Fig. 3b shows the position of the contact springs after the applicationof two impulses to the attracting windmg.

The magnetic circuit of the counting impulse device consists of a core 1carrying an attracting winding 14 and a retracting winding 15, a yokemember 2 on which are mounted the contact spring set 10a, 10b, and apreparing spring 7 and a holding spring 8 for actuat-t ing theindividual armature 5. The ten armatures 5 are arranged next to oneanother as in U.S. Patent No. 2,538,818 previously referred to and aredesigned as angular armatures which are rotatable about a common axis13. Their free ends, when in their normal condition, are hold to theretracting or hold pole 4. Only the armature which is the first to beactuated is in an intermediate position between the retracting or holdpole 4 and the attracting pole 3. The preparing springs 7 and theholding springs 8 provide in known manner that each succeeding armature5, during the interval following an impulse, is brought into thepreparatory intermediate position between the attracting and holdingpoles. The armatures which are attracted on account of an impulse,remain stuck to the attracting pole 3 until re turned in common to theirnormal position by an impulse applied to the retracting winding 15.

To each of the armatures there is associated a front contact, such as b,101b, etc., Fig. 3. To each of these ten front contacts, which arearranged next to each other, there is functionally associated a backcontact, such as 100a, 101a, etc. The first back contact 100a is closedin the normal condition (Fig. 3a). The contact springs 10a and 10b whichoverlie each other, are in turn provided with offset portions in theplane of the springs, whilst the contacting points themselves continuein the direction of the general longitudinal axis (Fig. 2). Thus theupper spring 10awhen viewing the counting device from the front side ofthe armature-is off-set toward the right-hand side, and the lowercontact spring 10b toward the left-hand side. By this arrangement at thepoint of engagement of an armature 5 and an associated insulating pin 11the upper spring 10a of the preceding front contact meets onto the lowerspring 10b of the next succeeding front contact. The contact springsthemselves may be equipped with double contacts, as shown. The uppersprings 10a are slotted so that the dual contacts may act independentlyof each other.

In Fig. 2 the construction and shape of the contact springs 10a and 10bis shown. For reasons of clarity, on the left-hand side there is onlyshown the upper contact spring 10a and, on the right-hand side only thelower contact spring 10b, but the cooperation of the front contactsthrough the offset portions can be clearly seen from the springs in themiddle.

The two end contact spring sets, i.e. the lower spring 100!) of the backfirst contact, and the upper spring a of the last right-hand frontcontact each rest on an insulating pin 11a, which is fixed in a holdingframe 9. The distance of this frame 9 from the yoke 2 may be varied bymeans of a screw pin 12. The remainder of the insulating pins 11 arearranged to slide in apertures a a in the frame 9 and rest on the upperarms of the associated armatures 5.

In the operation of the device when the first impulse is applied theback contact 100a, 1001) is opened and remains open for indicating thebusy condition of the counting device during the whole period of theimpulses (impulse train) until the armatures are dropped. (The directionof movement of the armatures 5 when being attracted is indicated in Fig.3b by means of the corresponding arrows 561 to 510). By the attractionof the first armature (arrow 501) to the attracting pole 3, theassociated insulating pin 11 raises the lower contact spring 1% of thesecond contact set, which lower spring is firmly connected with the saidpin. The insulating pin 11 also engages the upper spring 10a of thepreceding back contact and opens the latter, while the second contact101a 1011) is being closed. 011 the second impulse, the second armaturewill be attracted (arrow 502) and its associating insulating pin 11raises firstly, the lower associated spring 10b (contact 1112b) and,secondly, the upper spring 10a (contact 101a) which is functionally thepreceding one. The previously closed front contact 101a, 101b, will nowopen and the associated back contact 102a, 1112b will close. Thisswitching position is shown in Fig. 3b, i.e. after two impulses. Theactuation of the remaining front contacts -103110 is effected in ananalogous manner by succeeding impulses. It will be noted thatfunctionally each contact set is first actuated as a front contact andthen as a back contact.

It may be seen from Fig. 3 that when the contact springs are shaped inthe manner according to this invention, the construction of the contactassembly can be simplified and the overall height of the impulsecounting device may be reduced to a minimum. This height can amount toless than of the width of the iron circuit and, consequently, of theentire width of the impulse device. The soldering terminals of themagnet coils 14 and 15 may be led through the rear portion of the yoke 2in an electrically and magnetically insulated manner.

While we have described above the principles of our invention inconnection with specific apparatus, it is to be clearly understood thatthis description is made only by way of example and not as a limitationto the scope of my invention.

What is claimed is:

A magnetic counting device including a pole structure and means fortransmitting a series of magnetizing impulses thereto, a plurality ofarmatures associated with said pole structure, means for successivelyadvancing said armatures to an intermediate position in the efiectiveoperating field of said pole structure during the counting operation, intimed sequence with said magnetizing impulses, a contact spring setassociated with each armature comprising first and second contactsprings overlying one another and having contact carrying portions whichare off-set in difierent directions with respect to one another andpositioned so that a contact of said first spring is separatelyassociated with a contact of a spring of the preceding spring set and acontact of said second spring is operatively associated with a contactof a spring of the next succeeding spring set, and means for actuatingeach said spring set responsive to a further movement of its associatedarmature, the said last-mentioned means comprises a pin one end of whichengages said armature, the other end of which engages a surface of oneof said first and second contact carrying springs, and which passesthrough and is secured to the other of said first and second contactcarrying springs.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,069,169 Leake Jan. 26, 1937 2,077,091 Brander Apr. 13, 1937 2,385,858Horman Oct. 2, 1945 2,441,001 Bellamy May 4, 1948 2,452,568 HarrisonNov. 2, 1948 2,538,819 Bellamy Jan. 23, 1951 2,610,242 Farkas Sept. 9,1952 2,622,143 Boswau Dec. 16, 1952

